If your dcs have school dinners do you still give them a main meal at home as well?

Just wondering really .. ds is starting school in September and will start with school dinners. He is pretty fussy and I am not convinced he will really eat much. Do most of you cook yours dcs another meal when they get home?

Also, those of you with one dc ... do you cook for them on their own of an evening or do you eat early so as to eat with them?

what sort of thing do you cook for them? ds has become quite fussy of late so I am concerned I will struggle to find different things every day to feed him. He is at nursery full time at the moment and eats things there that he won't even consider at home!

he is in bed by 6.30pm and I don't think I will be able to persuade dp to eat at that time. The first term I will be home to pick him up from school so can cook but after that he will be at after school club until 5pm when I get back from work!

no I don'tI posted on here about it before that I didn't think dcs needed 2 main meals a day and that I couldn't see the point in patying for school dinners and then coooking thema main mealNo one agreed with meI found it very odd

The meals are meant to be fairly good as the school has opted out from the LEA scheme and use the funding to cater for themselves. That doesnt mean that ds will like it or eat it though I suppose! I guess I am going to have to come in at 5 and cook and eat with him every evening and then send him straight up to bed! It will be bizarre eating at 5.30pm though!

I agree with bigchris; however my dd1 (5) is a big eater and polishes off a school dinner with no difficulty. In our case cooking another main meal would just give her extra calories etc that she doesn't need (she is a little overweight confirmed by the school nurse)

Perhaps people in my position would be happy just to give a sandwich-type tea in the evening? (fruit, sandwich, yogurt etc)

If I was to cook an extra main meal, it would be something very simple such as a baked potato or pasta.

On "normal" work nights it isn't practical for dh and I to eat with the dcs.

Yes. I'm cooking for me and DH, so might as well. Mine are late bedders though, so we eat at about 6:30pm, then they go to bed at 7:15-7:30ish.

The menu's a lot like Princessmel's - my pasta recipe book is my best friend . I also prepare things the previous evening, like fish pie, and reheat the next day. A slow cooker is also on my list of Things I Might Find Useful for the Winter.

thanks princessmel ... ds' favourite food is roast dinner which we try and do every Sunday if we are in. I obviously cant cook a roast during the week by that time of evening. He likes sausages, fish fingers etc and used to eat spag bol and pasta but will now only eat them at nursery! He loves rice ... guess I will just have to try and expand his palette!

DS1 does have a meal at around 5pm, he also has a flapjack/piece(s) of fruit when he gets in at 3.15pm. I am reliably informed that he eats every morsel of his school lunch and is always the first to finish BUT he eats loads, DS2 eats nowhere near as much, so don't know what will happen when he starts school in just over a year. Funny really as DS1 is skinny and DS2 a plump 3 yr old.